St. Athanasius: The Paradise of the Holy Fathers

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THE HISTORIES OF THE MONKS WHO LIVED IN THE DESERT OF EGYPT, WHICH WERE COMPILED BY SAINT HIERONYMUS

And moreover, in the might of and with confidence in Christ, we begin to write the Histories of the solitary Monks
who lived in the Desert of Egypt, which were composed by the blessed Hieronymus [Died A.D. 420]


CHAPTER XVII

THE TRIUMPHS OF ABBA HOR, AND ISAIAH, AND PAUL, AND NOPI, THE CONFESSORS

ON a certain occasion it happened that Abbâ Hôr and Isaiah, and Paul met each other by chance by the side of a great river, and all three of them were chaste and perfect ascetics, who were going to visit a certain great confessor whose name was Nôpî, who lived at a place which was three stages distant, and they said to each other, “Let each of us shew the other his triumphs, and in what way, and to what extent he is, on account of his deeds, honoured by God.” And Abbâ Hôr said unto them, “I beg God for this gift—that we may journey to the place in that country by the might of the Holy Spirit, without any labour [on our part]”; and immediately he had prayed, a boat was found to be ready, and a wind favourable for its journey was blowing, and they sailed up against the stream, and in a short time found themselves at that place.

And when they had gone up from the river, Isaiah said unto them, “O my beloved, would it not be a greater [display of the power of] God if that man whom we are going to see where to come to us and meet us, and were to describe to each of us his life and works?” And Paul said unto them, “God hath revealed unto me that after three days He will take him, and that the man whom we are going to see will depart from this world into life.” Now when they had journeyed onwards a short distance from that place, the man himself met them, and saluted them; and Paul said unto him, “Brother, explain to us thy manner of life and works, for the day after to-morrow thou wilt go to God.” And Abbâ Nôpî said unto them, “Blessed be God, Who hath also revealed these things unto me, and hath shewn me concerning your coming and concerning your life and works.” And when he had described the upright dealings of each one of them, and how they lived, and how they laboured, he afterwards began to speak and to describe his own life and works, and he spake thus:—

“Since the day wherein I confessed the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and God, no falsehood whatsoever hath gone forth from my mouth on earth, and I have never taken any earthly thing, for an angel hath fed me each day with heavenly food. In my heart I have never had any other desire than that which is of God; and God hath not hidden from me anything which is honourable and glorious; and I have never been deprived of or lacked the light of mine eyes. I have never gone to sleep in the daytime, and during the night season I have never rested from making supplication to God, and the angel of God hath accompanied me always and hath shewn me the might of the world which is to come, and His light hath never gone out in my mind. Every request which I made unto God I have received straightway. At all times I have seen myriads of angels standing before God. I have seen the companies of the saints. I have seen the congregations of the martyrs. I have seen the triumphs of the monks who mourn. I have seen the works of the solitary brethren, and the congregations of the righteous. I have seen all created things glorifying God. I have seen Satan delivered over to the burning fire. I have also seen his angels suffering torments, and the righteous enjoying the happiness which hath no cessation.” And, having told us these things, and many others which were like unto them, on the third day he delivered up his soul; and straightway the angels and the armies of the martyrs received it, and took it up into heaven, and we saw them singing praises and heard them.

Here end the Triumphs of Abba Hor, and Isaiah, and Paul, and Nopi, the Confessors.

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CHAPTER XVIII

THE TRIUMPH OF EVAGRIUS

AND we also saw Evagrius, who was a man of great ability and learning, and who, through the experience of the matters which had passed over him, had acquired the discernment of good thoughts; and he had on several occasions gone down to the city of Alexandria and shut the mouths of the heathen philosophers. Now he commanded the brethren who were with us not to drink their fill of water, because devils were always to be found in the places where there were fountains of water, even according to the word of our Lord, Who said, “When the evil spirit hath gone forth from a man, it departeth and wandereth about in the places wherein there is no water seeking rest, which it findeth not” (St. Matthew 12:43). And he spake unto us many things concerning the labours of ascetic excellence, and he confirmed our souls in the faith. Now many of the monks neither ate bread nor fruit (God forbid!), but bitter herbs and vegetables soaked in vinegar; and some of them never slept at all during the night, but, either sitting up or standing, they continued to pray until the morning.

Here endeth the Triumph of Evagrius

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CHAPTER XIX

THE TRIUMPH OF ABBA PITHYRION

AND we also saw in Thebaïs a certain high mountain which lay by the river, and it was an exceedingly terrible mountain with high barren peaks, and in the caves thereof there dwelt many monks; and these men had as Abbâ one Pithyrion, who was a disciple of the holy man Anthony. He was the third who had received that place from Anthony, and he used to perform many mighty deeds, and to carry on the persecution of devils openly; and since he was the man who had received the place of Anthony, the blessed and great man, and of Ammonius his disciple, he received also, and rightly so, the inheritance of his labours. Now Pithyrion spake many other things, and he discoursed with power, especially on the faculty of discerning spirits, saying, “There are certain devils which cling to the passions, and on several occasions they turn our good desires into evil; therefore, O my sons, those of you who wish to drive away devils must first of all bring into subjection your lusts, for a man must vanquish not only every lust, but he must drive away the devil thereof. It is right that ye should overcome your lusts little by little, so that in the same way ye may drive away the devils which appertain thereto. There is a devil which belongeth to a wasteful and dissolute life, and he who is able to conquer the desire therefor is also able to drive away that devil.” And this man used to eat twice a week, that is to say on Sunday, and on Thursday, and his food consisted of a little flour and some water which he baked into a thin cake; and he was unable to eat anything else, because his nature was thus.

Here endeth the Triumph of Pithyrion

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CHAPTER XX

THE TRIUMPHS OF THE BLESSED FATHERS

AND we also saw many other fathers and monks in several places throughout Egypt who used to work mighty deeds and miracles, but they were so many in number that we cannot mention them all, and we therefore only narrate a few things out of many. For what shall we say of the upper part of the Thebaïd, namely that [which is near] Syene, wherein live many wonderful men, and countless monks, who lead lives which are wholly beyond the nature of ordinary men? For at the present time they raise the dead, and, like Peter, they walk upon the water, and, to this very day, everything which our Redeemer performed by His saints is performed by these holy men. Now because of the great danger which we should run of thieves and barbarians falling upon us, we did not dare to go up the Nile any further to the south than Lycus, and therefore could not see the holy men who were there. Now we were not able to know even the fathers of whom we have spoken above without toil and tribulation, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that we were able to narrate their histories, for in order to do this we had to suffer much, and we were within a very little of having to endure many tribulations; but at length we were worthy to see these men. For on seven occasions we were delivered, and on the eighth evil came not nigh unto us, because, at all times, God protected us.

On the first occasion we nearly perished of hunger and thirst whilst we were wandering about in the desert [without food] for five days and five nights. On the second occasion we fell among savage, rugged mountains until our feet were pierced by the stones, and we suffered very great pain, and very nearly had to yield up our souls. On the third occasion we sank in the mud several times up to our backs, and there was none to help [us], and we cried out the words of the blessed David, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come even unto my soul, I have sunk into a dark abyss, wherein is no place on which to stand. Save me from the mire that I sink not” (Psalm 69:1, 2). On the fourth occasion a flood of many waters burst upon us at the period of the inundation of the Nile, and we walked about in the water, and we sank down very nearly to the nostrils [of the animal which we rode], and we cried out and said, “Drown us not, O Lord, in a whirlpool of waters, and let not the abyss swallow us up, and let not the pit close its mouth over us” (Psalm 69:14, 15). On the fifth occasion we fell in with some river thieves whilst we were walking along on the river banks to go into the city of Dekaplîôs, and they pursued us and sought to capture us, until very little breath was left in our nostrils, for they chased us for a distance of ten miles. On the sixth occasion we were sailing on the Nile when the boat capsized and sank under us. On the seventh occasion we were arriving at Lake Mareotis, and we were cast up on a small desert island, where the papyrus plant groweth, and we passed there three whole days and nights under the open sky in severe cold and with the rain falling upon us; now the season was the days of the Epiphany.

The story of the eighth occasion may be superfluous, but it is helpful. For when we were going to Nitria we passed a great deep place in one of the fields, which was full of water, and after the waters had run off the fields several crocodiles remained therein; now three very large crocodiles were stretched out on the edge of the pool, and we drew nigh to them that we might see them, because we thought they were dead. But they ran after us very fast, and we cried out with a loud voice, saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ, spare our souls,” whereupon the crocodiles, as if they had been driven away from us by angels, cast themselves into the water. And we made our way to Nitria with all possible haste, and as we went we meditated upon the words of the righteous man Job, who said, “Seven times He shall deliver thee from tribulation, and on the eighth evil shall not draw nigh unto thee” (Job 5:19). Therefore we gave thanks unto our Lord, who had redeemed us out of all tribulations, and had made manifest unto us great and marvellous revelations by the hands of his believing saints and monks.

Here end the Triumphs of the Blessed Fathers

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CHAPTER XXI

THE TRIUMPHS OF THE MONKS WHO WERE IN NITRIA

AND we came also to the district of Nitria, where we saw many great disciples who had departed from the world, and some were natives of the country, and some were strangers (i.e., foreigners), who were more excellent in glory than the others, and they were emulating each other in the beautiful deeds of strenuousness, and were striving to outstrip each other in their noble and glorious lives and works. Now some of them possessed divine vision, and others works of ascetic excellence. And as we were coming from the desert some of their number saw us when we were afar off, and they met us on the way, and some of them brought water, and others washed our feet, and others washed our garments, and others entreated us to eat, and others called us to the doctrine of glory, and others to the vision of divine knowledge, and each one of them wished to help us so far as it lay in his power to do so. And however much a man might speak about their glorious life, it would be impossible for him to describe it as it really is. For they dwell in a waste place, and their dwellings are remote, and the men live apart from each other so that one man may not be known to his fellow, and that he may neither be seen readily nor his voice heard, and they live in the strictest silence, and each one of them is secluded within his cell, and only on Saturday and Sunday do they assemble in the church, and so meet each other. On several occasions many of them have been found dying in their chambers without ever having seen each other except when assembled for service in the church; for some of them only assembled once every three or four months, and thus they were remote from each other. Now these monks have much affection both for each other and for the rest of the brethren, for each one of them would be exceedingly anxious to give up his chamber to any man who wished to seek for grace.

Here end the Triumphs of the Monks who were in Nitria